Plural Animal Nouns

Level 3

Singular like a person: Vidím psa. Plural like a thing: Vidím kone. Máme dva kocúry.

How It Works

Singular: like a person

Vidím psa. Mám koňa. Kŕmim holuba. The accusative ends in -a, as with Vidím brata.

Plural: like a thing

  • hard endings, like dub → duby: kocúr → kocúry, holub → holuby, slon → slony, lev → levy
  • soft endings, like stroj → stroje: kôň → kone, medveď → medvede

So the plural object is the same as the subject: Kone sú na lúke. Vidím kone. The words around the noun take the forms for things: tie kone, dva kocúry, veľké psy.

Two plurals for pes, vták and vlk

The standard dictionary allows both a thing-like and a person-like plural for these nouns. Keep one set in a phrase:

  • psy (object psy): tie veľké psy
  • psi (object psov): tí veľkí psi

Likewise vtáky / vtáci and vlky / vlci. When an animal word describes people in a figurative way, only the person-like form is used: Sú to vlci. (They are wolves, meaning ruthless people.)

Numbers. Dvaja, traja, štyria are only for men. Animals take dva, tri, štyri: dva psy, tri kone. See Two by Gender.

Examples (6)

  1. Vidím psa.

    I see a dog.

    In the singular pes behaves like a person: psa.

  2. Vidím kone.

    I see horses.

    In the plural kôň behaves like a thing: the object kone is the same as the subject.

  3. Máme dva kocúry.

    We have two tomcats.

    Animals take dva, not dvaja.

  4. Kŕmim holuby.

    I'm feeding the pigeons.

  5. Vtáci spievajú.

    Birds are singing.

    vták also has a person-like plural. Vtáky spievajú is correct too.

  6. Psy štekajú celú noc.

    The dogs bark all night.

    The thing-like plural of pes. Psi štekajú is also standard.

Common Mistakes

  • Giving a plural animal object the person-like ending -ov.

    Vidím koňov.
    Vidím kone.

    Kôň follows stroj in the plural, so the object is the same as the subject: kone.

  • Using dvaja with animals.

    Mám dvaja psy.
    Mám dva psy.

    Dvaja counts men only, and it is a subject form. For animals use dva: dva psy, dva kone.

  • Using the forms for men with a thing-like animal plural.

    Tí kone sú pekní.
    Tie kone sú pekné.

    Kone takes the forms for things, so the pointing word is tie and the adjective ends in -é.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Plural Animal NounsLevel 3

Learn This First

Before Plural Animal Nouns, learn Plural of Nouns for Men. Animal plurals contrast with the plurals for men.

Words in This Pattern

vták